Knit is a Four-Letter Word

The last time I attempted Holidailies was 2010, I got one post done, The Introduction, and I’m going to neatly cannibalize that post to reintroduce myself this year.

>>I’m Amanda Page, aka Emender Poige (to the American ear, that’s how my Australian accent sounds.)

I am still Amanda Page, and I regularly use Emender Poige as my online nom de plume. People also assume that Amanda Page is a made up name; it sounds writerly and a mighty handy name for an online writer. But no, that is my name in the real space too; first name from birth, and last name from the first marriage.

>>I’ve been blogging since it was online journalling, way back in the deep dark ages of late early 1996/early 1997. If you count all of the entries and laid them end to end, they might stretch halfway into 2011. It’s been a long time, but not prolific. And on a bunch of platforms that went away, as did a chunk of the entries. Litweb, Newsguy, Cyber-e-net, Diary-X, Geocities.

I would like to have kept all of my previous entries, but usually the platform was swept out from under me before I remembered what I tell everyone else – backup often, using multiple formats. I still have my paper journals from high school and it’s interesting reading what that girl thought about things. Things she thought were so important that I barely (or not at all) remember now. Heartening, that thought – in another decade or so, all that caused me such grief and angst over the past 3 years will have softened into fuzzy memories of events no longer sharp and impinging.

>>But I’ve been in every Holidailies since at least 2003 (blast from the past – check out the 2003 page. Considering 7 years in internet time is like counting in dog years, there’s still a surprising number of people there that I still know and “see.”

Barely in 2010, and in 2011, I didn’t sign up at all. Although great turmoil and upheaval can make for compelling narrative in other blogs, turns out it can be too much to write about at the time

>>After being online for such a long time, sometimes it can be hard to write – have I said it before, did I say it better the first time, should I be saying it now.
>>That is why I love Holidailies – once a year, I and a bunch of other writers push past that, and we write. I get to read a bunch of excellent entries, and I get to flex the writing muscle that doesn’t get a lot of use.

Can’t say this any better than 2010.

>>You’ve seen the word clouds on the blogs, it’s a plugin that I haven’t quite gotten around to working out.
>>Here’s my manual cloud – these are words you’ll expect to see a lot of over the course of Holidailies
>>Jeff. Australia. Australian. Knit. Knitting. Crochet. Crocheting. Yarn. cats. Adelaide. Hoover. Lucky. Cooking. Books. Christmas. Cards. Late. Tired. Bed.

The word cloud for this year would be similar;

Australia. Australian. Knit. Knitting. Crochet. Crocheting. Yarn. cats. Adelaide. Hoover. Lucky. Cooking. Books. Christmas.

but with a few significant changes;

Separation. Divorce. Unemployed. Weight Loss . Running. Family. Friends Starting Over.

A brief introduction –

My name is Amanda Page. I used to live in the USA, had a job, a house, a car and was married, and was a US size 20/Oz size 22.

My name is still Amanda Page. After my marriage broke down in January 2010, I dropped 60 lbs/27 kilos and six sizes in 6 months. By June of 2011, I was a US #8-10/Oz #10-12, and had started running 5KM races. I moved back to Australia in June 2012, with all of my stuff and cats, which are in storage and a cattery, respectively. I’m looking for work, working on getting a car, and my own place to live. I’m starting over.